LIBRO: TRAVEL BOOK MARS_LV

Info. Aura Marina Hernández

RR.PP. Louis Vuitton Venezuela

Photos. Courtesy Louis Vuitton

FOR FALL 2021, LOUIS VUITTON ADDS A NEW TITLE TO ITS TRAVEL BOOK SERIES FEATURING THE WORK OF ARTISTS AND WRITERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. IN THIS BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED VOLUME, THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST FRANÇOIS SCHUITEN AND THE TRAVEL WRITER SYLVAIN TESSON TAKE THEIR READERS ON AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY. IN A NOT SO DISTANT FUTURE OF EXPONENTIAL POPULATION GROWTH AND RECORD TEMPERATURE RISES, VAST STRETCHES OF FORMERLY ARABLE LAND HAVE TURNED INTO DESERTS. A MAN AND A WOMAN, THE NEW ERA’S ADAM AND EVE, ARE SENT ON A MISSION TO MARS TO EXPLORE THE RED PLANET AND THE POSSIBILITIES IT MIGHT OFFER FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL.

“I’m not really a big traveler,” admits François Schuiten with a smile. “My life is divided between Paris and Brussels, between one studio and the other. In truth, my drawing table is my map of the world! I set off to discover Mars like an explorer, without any preconceived ideas, immersed in the photographs taken by space probes, surrounded by books, maps and rock samples. I listened to the sound made by the wind, observed the layers of different minerals and the reflection of light on the landscapes… I ended up losing myself in the canyons and the forests of mineral spikes, shivering beneath the ice clouds, my view sometimes obstructed by eddies of dust. Mars is not just a red planet. There’s an infinite variety of geographical and geological nuances, well documented from space thanks to satellite imagery and, on the ground, through the data collected by the rovers. I wanted to offer a vision of the planet on a human scale.”

Schuiten draws instinctively, without deciding on a narrative beforehand, so as not to “overly intellectualize” his approach, instead allowing himself to be guided by emotion and desire. “I relied uniquely on the work of the hand, light, colors and materials,” says the artist. “I was looking for a new, more radical language. The panoramic format was liberating for me, giving me a fresh perspective. It offered a chance to breathe, as distinct from my work in comics. The use of double‑page spreads gives a 180-degree field of view, widening the horizon. It was also ideal for placing emphasis on colors. I avoided my usual anchors in the composition: there are no stark outlines as in comics; here color fully plays its role with various layers and techniques to create the sfumato.” Schuiten concealed the initial lines with brushstrokes of acrylic paint, then pigment pencils were used to achieve denser colors, followed by another layer of oil paint. Thus, the rocks bead with moisture under their brilliant veil of glazing and the huge expanse of sand and gravel becomes a vast plain bristling with ghostlike shadows. “I came up against two kinds of loneliness,” says Schuiten, "that of the illustrator at his drafting table and that of the empty landscapes. I veered between exaltation and apprehension, wonderment and uneasiness, just like the two figures I had imagined, a man and a woman, alone in the immensity of the scene. The red planet still features in many a childhood dream, and I wanted to capture that fascination. Above all, it is that child that I was seeking to reach.”

The encounter with the writer Sylvain Tesson was a decisive one for Schuiten. “Only someone with a long experience of solitude and silence, of cold and endurance, someone with a passion for the electrifying beauty of natural landscapes, could visit these uninhabited spaces,” says the artist. “Mars is the mirror of Earth and its fragility. Looking at my illustrations, Sylvain immediately began telling me the story of my book. His ideas put everything in place. They guided me through to the end of the journey. The most beautiful thing is something that remains unsullied, pristine. How can we protect these immaculate places when the colonization of Mars has become the challenge of the century for space explorers? I’m torn between utopia and dystopia. There are always gray areas. That’s the complexity of reality, and it’s also what propels the story forward.”